The Unofficial Fan Blog

Chetan Bhagat’s third novel: The 3 Mistakes of my Life deals with Cricket. With the IPL going one the publishers might’ve wanted to cash on the cricket fever.

The book is a below average one. Even by Chetan’s standards, this one is nowhere near his other two fictions.Read my review in my other blog: The 3 Mistakes of my Life : Review

Excerpt

India’s wet dreams is back: romance and a pretty girl! I like the way Chetan describes a girl. The attention to detail is high! “noticed her thin arm. ..so fair that you can see veins. Applied silver-white nailpoilish on the outer edge of nails”, “her eye lashed were wet”, ” had to reopen and faster her hair clip”, “she kept her dupatta away from the table”, “every girl have wonderful smell after bath. They should bottle it and sell it”.

Continue reading…

Have you read the book? Did you like?

Read a good article about CSK’s second MS (first MS is Em Yes Dhoni), Manpreet Singh Gony in today’s Times of India. Gony is a poster boy of IPL’s ‘exiting talent’ who can bowl and hit sixes (he averages a six for every balls faced!).

It talkes about how he overcame the tragedy of the death of his newborn baby, struggling career and personal issues. Read on..

The agony and ecstasy of being MS Gony

Rising Star Fought Off Personal Tragedy And Got His Career Back On Track

Kushan Sarkar | TNN

These days Manpreet Singh Gony finds it hard to walk alone on the streets of Chennai for the fear of being mobbed by fans. The 24-year-old, however, remains unperturbed by his rising popularity. Life has indeed taken strange twists and turns for Gony.

As he looks back on the past few months, tears well up in his eyes. It was only the other day he and his wife were blessed with a bonny boy, but two weeks later tragedy struck. The cruel hands of fate snatched away their ‘bundle of joy’. As he stood alone in a Delhi hospital, clutching the lifeless body of his baby, the light seemed to have gone out of his life.

“We had named him Diamond. We were young parents. The day I first held him in my arms it was a priceless feeling. He was born with a heart problem. The doctors in Delhi tried their best. But I guess God willed otherwise,” the well-built player told TOI. “My wife (Manpreet Kaur) was inconsolable. I had to be strong, but trust me it was difficult. When a father holds the dead body of his son, the other things in life become insignificant. I was selected to represent PCA in the Buchi Babu meet within seven days of this tragedy. I went as it was my maiden call-up, leaving my wife behind,” he recalled.

How does it feel to be a star? “To be a star you need to play at the highest level. Yes, I am happy that I have got a foothold but now I need to build on it. Fame and money is fine but I am only one season old in first-class cricket. It’s pure destiny that I am here today. Had Luv Ablish not opted for ICL, I wouldn’t have played for Punjab this season. I was just concentrating on my performance for state team. I never even dreamt of being included as a catchment area player for Team Mohali, let alone Chennai. A good performance in Deodhar Trophy changed things,” Gony rushed through his brief career.

Strange it is, indeed, but Gony, who now aspires to play for India, had all but given up the game a couple of years back after being ignored by Punjab selectors. “I was frustrated as I was taking wickets in club cricket consistently but was not being considered for selection. I was thinking about leaving but my wife insisted that I should just carry on. Those were hard days,” said the school drop-out.

“I gave up my studies after XIIth standard but my wife is a qualified architect. I still don’t have a job. I used to earn peanuts playing club cricket. My wife sustained the family,” Gony said. Normally lot of parental support is required for sportspersons but Gony and his wife didn’t get much supports from that quarter. “I snapped all ties with my parents as they were never nice to my wife,” he confessed. “ Those were dark days too. We have since moved in with my in-laws. With IPL I have gained financial stability, I soon plan to buy my own house and want my wife to take the civil services entrance test,” he said.

A touching article. All the best to Gony, hope he makes it to Indian Team and his wife pass IAS. God bless.

Source: TOI Article

Sehwag was booed and scorned in Hyderabad, Jayasuriya was cheered in Mumbai.

IPL has brought a welcome refreshing outlook in cricket. Initially we were supporting any team but as the IPL progressed we’re seeing loyalty coming in place.

While watching yesterday duel against KKR, my cousin said he wanted CSK to win. This was what he said:

I feel bad if CSK looses, more than if India losses.

Even I feel the same. I’m more ‘loyal’ to CSK than to Indian team.

Now that CSk is almost booked it’s berth in the semis, time for another poll. Please take a couple of mouse click to vote on our poll (RSS Readers need to visit blog to voice out).

So any comments? Are you more Loyal to City or National Squad?

Other than the official sponsors endorsements, M S Dhoni (or Em Yes Dhoni in ‘Tamglish’) endorsements are only next to Sachin or SRK.

I’m a big fan of Dhoni now. The guy is the captain, he bats, keeps, bowls (was seen bowling in nets for CSK and had bowled in ODIs too!) and in addition to these, he dances, sings and acts. Should not be a surprise if he falls for a Tamil girl!

Recently you might’ve seen Pepsi and Sonata Ad with MS Dhoni shot in Chennai. I think they’re brilliant. The dialogues are hilarious: “Namma captain da peter, India captain later” (it’s too difficult to translate!).

Watch them:

RSS Readers: If the video doesn’t show in your reader, here’s the direct links: Pepsi Ad and Sonata Ad.

“Em Yes Dhoni from Chennai, mind it. All you fast bowlers rascall, I’ve the bat, so you’ve the ball!”

Today came across a column in Times of India where readers send cheers to CSK team.

One such message:

Twinkle Twinkle little star,
Murali is the spinning star,
Dhoni the batting star,
Chennai has the super stars.

Cute and apt, isn’t it?

Do you have any message for CSK? I’ll post another article if there are good response.

Is watching cricket daily lead you to burnout?

Honestly, yes in my case. During the first 10-14 days of IPL, I used to watch almost daily.

Why so?
- 2 matches in a row for 2 days.
- more controversies than tight matches?
- return of star (Aus, NZ and West Indian) players

I got some personal reasons too:
- don’t watch much of TV (more into Movies, TV Shows and Books)
- don’t like to do anything continuously (even while watching a movie, I take breaks)

Technically I do watch almost all the matches but not fully.

Now I watch only when I’ve nothing to do or when Chennai Super Kings plays.

Don’t get me wrong. I love IPL. Honestly I like this format more than ODIs or Tests. But too much of sugar spoils the juice.

Have you lost interest in IPL?

I feel that we are not sporting the best side for the matches.

Also did you notice that our team was pretty much the same in these 3 blocks:
- the first 4 (unbeaten)
- the next 3 (lost ‘em)
- the next 3 (won 2 & lost the last)

And notice that our performance was also pretty much the same.

Here’s my take on the best players that we can side..

Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan
Srikanth Anirudha *
Suresh Raina
Subramanian Badrinath
M S Dhoni
Albie Morkel
Chamara Kapugedera +
Manpreet Goni
L Balaji
Muthiah Muralidharan
Ntini

Reserves:
Parthiv Patel
Palani Amarnath
Stefen Fleming

+ & * — We need to give Kapugedera & Anirudha more chances and see how they perform. Otherwise we got to get Parthiv Patel as an opener and Palani Amarnath instead of Kapugedera (which would be strange as we would field only 3 foreigners!).

What say boys? Correcta?